WASHINGTON — Slavery in the U.S. lasted for more than 250 years. By 1840, 59 per cent of U.S. exports came from the slavery-based cotton industry. According to historian David Blight, by 1860 the asset value of the nation’s four million slaves eclipsed that of the value of the entire U.S. manufacturing infrastructure and its railways. Mississippi had more millionaires than the entire country.

Jan. 1, 1863: Emancipation Proclamation frees the three million slaves in the 10 states still in rebellion. It did not free the slaves in Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland and Delaware or in the counties of what is now West Virginia.

December 1865: Thirteenth amendment outlaws slavery throughout the U.S.

1876 to 1965: Southern State and local governments enact segregation laws affecting public institutions and private property creating social, educational, employment and financial disadvantages for African Americans. Almost every aspect of daily life was subject to apartheid laws including discrimination in mortgage and business loans and barriers to voting such as literacy tests, proof of identification, moral character tests and poll taxes. Segregation was reinforced by the oppressive practices of a white-only police and judicial systems and backed by the violence of militant racist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan.

1896: U.S. Supreme Court rules that state governments can segregate public schools under the doctrine “separate but equal.”

1954: National and local African-American groups begin to organize non-violent protests and civil disobedience throughout the south. The list of leaders is long but the national icons are Martin Luther King, John Lewis and James L. Farmer.

1954: U.S. Supreme Court in Brown vs. Board of Education rules segregated public schools unconstitutional because they are inherently unequal. States such as Texas ignore the ruling.

July 2, 1964: The landmark Civil Rights Act marks the end of Jim Crow laws by making race discrimination illegal.